Tafí del Valle

Tafí del Valle sits in a broad green bowl at around 2,000 metres, ringed by mountains and reached by one of the most memorable drives in the northwest: the RP307 climbs from the sugar plains through dense yungas cloud forest, often into mist so thick that the roadside ferns dissolve, before emerging into open pasture and clear air. The valley has been farmed for millennia and settled by the Diaguita long before the Spanish; today it is known for its cheeses, made on estancias around the valley and sold at the weekly market, and for walking, riding and paragliding in the surrounding hills. The centre is a low-slung town of stone and adobe with an old Jesuit chapel and a reservoir at its edge, and it is where Tucumán goes to escape the summer heat.

History

Native peoples have lived in the valley for over 7,000 years, and villages of farmers and gatherers appeared 2,300 years ago, probably before the Tafí culture. The Spanish arrived in the middle of the 16th century but could not settle at once against the resistance of the Diaguita, above all the Calchaquí, and in 1636 the valley was granted to the Leguizamo y Guevara family, whose estancia was later bought by the Jesuits, present in the area since 1617, who brought dairy farming and fine cheese-making (Wikipedia, Tafí del Valle).

Highlights

• The cloud-forest climb - the RP307 rising through mist and ferns from the plains.
• The cheese estancias - farms and shops selling the valley's semi-hard cheeses.
• La Banda chapel - the eighteenth-century Jesuit chapel and museum.
• The valley walks - trails and rides in the hills around the bowl.

When to go

April to November for clear views and dry trails; January and February bring holidaymakers from Tucumán and afternoon storms. The valley is cool year-round and cold at night, a shock after the lowland heat. Weekends are busiest.

Things to know

The town itself is plain and has grown quickly with holiday houses, so the appeal is the valley rather than the streets. Cloud often sits over the whole bowl for days, hiding the mountains. The approach road is winding and slow, and buses take three hours from Tucumán.

Nearby

El Mollar and its standing stones are at the valley's south end; Amaicha and the Quilmes ruins lie west.

Key facts